Toy grabs



Feb. 26, 1957 H. MULLER TOY GRABS Filed Jan. 5, 1953 United States Patent TOY GRABS Heinrich Miiller, Nurnberg, Germany Application January 5, 1953, Serial No. 329,673 1 Claim. (Cl. 46-40) The invention relates to toy grabs which, when in use, are suspended from a string or rope for the grabbing, hoisting, hauling, lowering and releasing of material of any kind.

In the known designs of such toys, the grab shells or jaws are closed and opened either by means of a separate control rope or together with the actuation of the hoisting rope. As a rule, such toy grabs can be used only as a component part of a toy crane or hoist. This greatly limits the playing possibilities. It is also infeasible to supplement a grab of this kind to a toy crane or other structure already available. The known toy grabs are also difiicult to control as to their direction of movement or position so that the grabbing operation is often not more than a hit-and-miss proposition.

It is an object of my invention to eliminate such deficiencies.

According to my invention, I connect the toy grab with an actuating device by an intermediate cable-shaped control connection for the mechanical actuation of the grab, particularly its shells or jaws, so that this actuation does not require a closing rope and is independent of the actuation of the hoisting rope from which the grab is suspended. As a result, the grab may be suspended from any suitable structure, and the grab material may be released or grabbed in each position or height of the grab.

The control connection may be so designed that, aside from the remote actuation for opening and closing the grab, it also permits directing the suspended grab into the position most favorable for grabbing the material to be hoisted. To this end, the cable-like control connection is given a semi-rigid design so that the grab can be turned or otherwise positioned by a suitable movement of the actuating device.

By virtue of the invention, the grab may be removably suspended from any hoisting rope or other holding means, and affords a satisfactory operation regardless of the crane or other structure used for that purpose. For instance, the grab may, be hung from a toy bridge, or a chair or table, which then serves as a make-believe gantry crane.

Various transmitting devices may be used for the abovementioned control connection. For instance, this connection may consist of a Bowden wire.

The foregoing and more specific objects and features of my invention will be apparent from the following description in conjunction with the embodiments of the invention exemplified on the drawing.

Figs. 1 to 4 show, respectively, a side view, front view, top view and bottom view of a toy grab actuable by means of a Bowden wire.

The toy grab shown in Figs. 1 to 4 is controlled by a Bowden-Wire cable with an inner wire 1 and an enclosing tubular helix 2. Oneend of the Bowden-wire cable terminates into a manual control device comprising a finger-pressure plate 1' joined with the inner wire 1, and a push button 2' joined with the helix 2. A rigid or semirigid guiding pipe 5 extends from plate 1' around the helix along part of the cable length. The two shells or jaws 13 of the grab are pivoted to each other by two screwed in pivot pins 15' coaxially extending from a member 15 firmly attached to a suspension rod 17. Two springs 10 coiled around the respective pivot pins and having their ends bearing down against the inwardly extending ends of link struts 16 hold the shells in the illustrated, closed position. Two pairs of the link struts 16, disposed on opposite sides, respectively, serve to open the shells against the force of springs 10. The lower end of each link 16 is pivotally joined with one of the respective shells. The upper ends of the two links on each side of the grab are pivotally secured to opposite ends of a member 18 which has a centrally apertured hub portion slidably mounted on the suspension rod 17 so that the shells open when the member 18 moves upwardly along the rod 17. The inner wire 1 is attached to the upper end of rod 17, and the outer end of the Bowden helix 2 is attached to the member 18. Hence, when the button 2' of the manual control device is depressed, the number 18 is moved upwardly along the rod 17 and the grab is opened.

The shells of the grab are preferably provided with teeth 14 for better grabbing action and for reliably holding the grabbed material. The upper end of rod 17 has an eyelet 32 for attachment to a rope or string.

A particular advantage of grabs according to the invention consists in the fact that the grab and the remote control device permit being assembled and disassembled thus offering additional instructure possibilities to the playing child.

I claim:

A toy grab, comprising a suspension rod vertically positioned when in operation, two grab shells pivoted to said rod at the lower end thereof and capable of movement between open and closed positions, a slide member seated on said rod, struts linking said member with points of said shells spaced from the respective shell pivot points whereby movement of said member along said rod causes said shells to move between said positions, and mechanical actuating means for moving said member along said rod, said actuating means comprising a manual control device, and a cable-like control connection connecting said device with said rod and slide members, said control connection having one end rigidly connected with said device, said control connection being semi-rigid along a substantial part of its length extending from said device to permit control- "ling the position of said suspension rod by movement of said device.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 72,567 Tinkham Dec. 24, 1867 875,846 Peterson Jan. 7, 1908 954,545 Sinner et a1 Apr. 12, 1910 1,142,692 Gannon June 8, 1915 1,756,441 Smith Apr. 29, 1930 1,917,599 Redmond July 11, 1933 2,035,081 Lower Mar. 24, 1936 2,326,934 Erhardt Aug. 17, 1943 2,507,549 Smith et al May 16, 1950 2,618,898 Wilhelm Nov. 25, 1952 2,634,158 Tibbs Apr. 7, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 633,439 Great Britain Dec. 19, 1949 

